You Had To Let Go (A Final Fantasy VII FanFiction)
by nadiamirah
Summary: Follow Cloud's rollercoaster of emotions as he witnesses his best friend Zack slowly slip away from his world. [Summary sucks. Just read. Please? Plus, message for PewDiePie and ChaoticMonki fans.]


**Hello. Sunrise here, nya!**

**Nadiamirah-san was bored at school, so she wrote this in her purple 'Crap Book', as she calls it. It's entirely based on the final scene of 'Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII', where Zack-san dies (aww...). It's in Cloud-san's POV and she spent a lot of free time on it.**

**She forewarns you that it may not be what Cloud-san was thinking at that point of time. It's just her personal opinion if she was Cloud-san.**

**Better start typing! Here is 'You Had To Let Go', a Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII fanfiction. (Why on Mobius did she ask me to type? She could've typed this herself...)**

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With a friendly rub on the head, he stood and left from my blinding line of sight. Nothing was on my mind, except for the fact that I was alone, sitting like a lifeless ragdoll against some random rock structure. Damn this mako addiction! I could've stopped him. He was just minutes away from knocking on Death's door, but he's too joyous and egoistic to realise it! He never did deserve this. Besides, wasn't he on their side once? He was committed too; going against all odds just to protect his honour to them, as he called it.

Just moments before this, his diamond blue eyes had looked into mine, gleaming with hope and excitement, telling me that he and I would become mercenaries, assuring me that he would still be friends while all this while I sat there, unable to respond, with a cloud of distortment flooding my mind.

I vaguely remember him stripping me out of my mako-soaked infantryman clothes and pulling on an old black uniform, commenting once in a while about his plans for the both of us and how I fitted perfectly in the uniform. I recalled the rough texture of his black leather gloves on my skin and how it carefully made sure that the shoulder pauldrons were in place and the belt rested snugly around my waist.

The sound of distant gunfire made me have a sudden flashback of how he has raised his sword against his kind whilst trying to reassure my safety. Of how he has braved against the painful pellets and punches to stop the army from taking me away, quadruple times. He always came back with a smile, clearly trying to hide his frustration and exhaustion, then slinging me over his shoulder and continued his journey.

He'd conquered many setbacks; from ShinRa's betrayal and robots, to monsters, to the dispute with Commander Rhapsodos, to his own sentimental faults, just to get me safe.

The first time I met him at the snowy mountains of Modeoheim and how he had indirectly complimented me on keeping up on snowy ground.

The day he told me with pride that he was from a backwater village, just like I was.

That time he offered me a hand when I felt motion sick in Junon.

_Embrace your dreams. And whatever happens, protect your SOLDIER honour._

ARGH!

A familiar cry of pain jolted me from my mournful trip down memory lane. The sky had darkened and the gunfire had stopped. My body still buzzed from numbness but I was able to think straight. Two shadows loomed past me, oblivious to my presence. I noticed the all-familiar shape of their helmets. It was the ShinRa infantrymen.

Zack! Where is he?

Gathering all my strength, I got on my fours, crawling to the best I could to where I might find him; the Edge **[A/N: My editor and I have no idea if Edge existed then. Let's just say it did.]**. I couldn't help but worry about him. Where was he all this time? He would've come back, wouldn't he? Unless he forgot-No! He'll never! He promised me!

_I'll never leave you. We're friends._

I was beginning to lose hope. Zack was nowhere to be seen. The sky overhead darkened threateningly. Thunder boomed, the as if on cue, rain started to pour. _Seriously? _I mourned in my head. It was all too cliché and it ruined my mood. Doubt started to cloud my heart. If I can't find Zack, what will become of me? What will become of _us_? I was obviously defenceless without Zack. What a failure for a ShinRa infantryman.

I crawled on towards Edge. As I rounded a rock structure, lighning flashed and I could make out a figure clad in a black SOLDIER outfit lying near Edge. The tall buildings of Midgar shone dully in the background. I pushed all my strength into crawling towards it. The rain puddles near it were lightly stained red. His bare arms were covered in bruises and deep cuts, blood oozing out of them and then washed away. His shirt was tattered and torn, a hole boring out of the middle. I looked up to his face. Black spiky hedgehog-like hair, pale complexion and dull mako blue coloured eyes. A huge broadsword lay by his side and small crystal orbs scattered nearby. That broadsword...

"Z-Zack.." was all I could muster to say. To see him in this state was like a stab through my heart.

He took a large gasp of air, smiling weakly. He reached out for my head and pulled me down to his blood-stained chest. The pungent smell didn't matter to me. "You will be my...living legacy." He whispered weakly, "You gotta live... For the both of us..."

He released his grasp on me. I sat up straight again. Why? Why would he be saying such words? He will survive, wouldn't he? He's SOLDIER! He won't falter! However, the tattered, bloodstained Zack I'm seeing now made me think otherwise.

"For the both of us..." I repeated. The continuous pitter-patter of raindrops and occasional booming of thunder rang my ears, instinctively telling me that lightning was nearby, but there were more important things happening right now.

He smiled; a small, weak smile but it held so much emotion. I could not tell which is which, but they swam in his dull crystal blue eyes like a school of fishes. Happiness, hurt, regret...

"My honour...my dreams..." he gasped out, lifting the sword and putting the handle in front of my eyes. It shone in the flash of lightning, the silver-gold accents gleaming despite the heaviness of the atmosphere. "They're yours now."

Hesitation clouded my movements, but I blame it on the pouring rain. I could tell that Zack wanted me to live. He wanted me to move on and live life. That was why he sacrificed and risked his life, wasn't it? But if he's gone, what will I do? What about his dream of becoming a mercenary? Where's my direction in life now? You can't leave Zack. You just can't!

His hand is still holding out the handle, silently begging me to take it. I pushed away all those doubts and took it. With a slight shove, it was now in my grasps. Zack smiled again, a weaker one.

"Your living legacy.." I echoed.

Zack nodded slightly, still smiling, and his eyes slowly slid shut.

Realization sank in with every single patter of a raindrop. Thunder crashed, lightning flashed but in my vision it was like everything was in black and white. I couldn't feel the numbness from the mako addiction anymore. The-no, _his_ Buster Sword handle lay cold in my hand. The materia gleamed dully. The Midgar lights shone blurrily in the background. However, he lay there motionlessly.

Why Zack? Why did you leave? After going so far you give up now? Why did you give yourself in to Death's grasps? What will happen to us now? Why did you say goodbye to everything that mattered to you? Why did you walk away without a backwards glance at everything you've been through; at your family, your dreams, at your purpose?

At me?

Tears welled up in my eyes as all the pent up sadness, anger and regret started to overflow. I didn't care about my sanity or what the Planet thought of me. My saviour was gone, and I never got the chance to tell him 'thank you' or 'goodbye'. I searched for Zack in the sky, hoping for a glint of his eyes once again, but all I saw was pitch black darkness.

It was clear now. He's gone.

So, with a hoarse voice, I screamed.

At my stupidity. At my meaningless life. At all those emotions I felt. At my foolish attempt to assure myself. At Hojo for all those harsh experiments. At ShinRa for coming after us...

At Zack for easily letting me go.

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**Wahoo! Done! And it took a whole hour! **_**Moe**_**... She should've just typed straight in... Well, at least it saved me from dying of boredom...**

**Anyway, nadiamirah-san has a 'Sonic the Hedgehog' story coming up. It's gonna be chaptered and she's planning on finishing at least 5 chapters before she posts the first chapter, so as to be on task. Please look forward to that. It's gonna be different, she says. Also, another PewDiePie-san fanfiction! I have no details about it but she says that that will be published first. Oh, she also requests to anybody out there; if you know what the 'September Incident' that happened between PewDie-san and Cry-san, please send her a PM about it! She would be delighted.**

**Special thanks to English-illiterate for editing this and telling nadiamirah-san that she enjoyed the story even though she told her numerous times it sucks.**

**Thanks for reading another of nadiamirah-san's Final Fantasy VII fanfiction! Please R&R! CC is the best and no Flames! Nadiamirah-san doesn't know how to handle Flames. ^_^''**

**As always, have a nice day, nya!  
****~Sunrise the Cat**


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